


Grace

by bluemisfortune



Series: ROAN AU [19]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 01:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemisfortune/pseuds/bluemisfortune
Summary: Thomas and Chris didn't get to see each other often, they had to make the most of it.





	

 “So, Ryouga thinks I’m sleeping with a prince,” Thomas calls.

 Thomas purposefully doesn’t look up from the book he’s flicking through, pretending he didn’t hear the slip in the shower through the thin walls. He doesn’t laugh like he wants to. 

 “You mean me?” he calls back. 

 “He means you,” Thomas replies. 

 “And you didn’t correct him?” 

 “Let him think what he likes, I don’t care.”

 “We need his trust.” Thomas sighs and tilts his head, glaring at the bathroom door. “Don’t you dare put four years of planning and hard work to waste, Thomas.” 

 “What’s the big deal? Let him think what he wants. It’s not like it’s the biggest secret we’re keeping right?” 

 

 The shower switches off and Thomas waits quietly until the bathroom door opens and Chris steps out, wrapped in a towelling robe. He sits on the bed next to Thomas. After a moment, Thomas puts his book down and unwraps the towel around Chris’ hair gently. Chris was always the most beautiful of the three of them. He’s alway look ethereal, otherworldly and magical. A lot like their father. 

 He parts Chris’ hair gently into sections, patting it dry and brushing it through until silky and smooth again. There are whispers in the house they can’t quite put down to the wind, the constant feel of someone watching them, but unlike many other people who visit, Thomas and Chris had never been bothered by the presence in the mansion.

 “Do you hate me for making you do this, Thomas?” Chris says. 

 “Yes,” Thomas replies bluntly. There’s no point lying about it. What Chris makes his do, the life he has to live, the way he has to live, none of it is fair. Nothing can ever go back to how it once was. “But you’re doing what you think is best, right? Even if it’s not fair, it’s all we can do.” 

 “I’m glad you understand,” he says with a sigh. Thomas nods and braids several sections of Chris’ hair as they talk. “They will pay for what they’ve done. I promise.”

 “I don’t need more broken promises, Chris.”

 “This one isn’t going to be broken,” Chris sys firmly. “No matter how long it takes.” He turns and Thomas huffs, tugging the braid he’s holding lightly, trying to get him to turn around so he can keep working. Chris doesn’t though. “They will pay, Thomas. All of them. No matter what we have to do.”

 “I know,” Thomas sighs. No matter what. Story of his life. “It’s how it always is.”

 “I didn’t mean-” Chris frowns and nods a little. “If you can’t handle this, Thomas, we can find another way. But we’re so close right now. I really think we should take this chance while we can.” 

 “I know. I know, I’m ready. We can do this. We can destroy the Heartland Empire once and for all.” 

 Thomas sighs and nods to himself, shoving Chris around to he could twists the braids up into loose spirals, weaving silver ribbons in as he goes. It could almost be like they were young again, sitting together as they prepared for a big event. Michael would be laughing and joking, their dog at the foot of the bed, resting peaceful as Byron bustled around. 

 

 “I never believed for a second you were capable of murder,” Chris says.

 “I know,” Thomas replied. “You’ve said before.”

 “I just need you to know. I never doubted you for a second. I knew, I always knew, you would never have done that.” Chris sighs and Thomas lays his head against his back, resting between his shoulders. “Even before I knew the truth, I knew you couldn’t have done what they said you did. Not without good reason.”

 Thomas smiles bitterly, wrapping his arms loosely around Chris’ middle, and relaxes a little when Chris’ hands rest over his. They’re going to defeat the Heartland Empire together. They’re going to bring down the entire empire and make them pay for everything they’ve taken from them. The humiliation they’ve forced upon them. 

 The house groans and heaves around them and Thomas closes his eyes. Chris sighs. This house wants them to have their revenge too. That’s why they’ve never been afraid, why it’s never lashed out at them like so many others. Because their goal is the same as those who were trapped here. None of them wanted to be here, but Thomas felt as at home in the rundown, rotting, broken mansion as the ghosts who roamed it. 

 Chris always laughs at the idea of ghosts, but Chris knows as well as he does, they’re not the only ones here. There’s too much they can’t explain. Chris believes as much as he does, even if he won’t admit it outloud, and he’s just as respectful of this house and those inside it as Thomas.

 

 “I do love you, Thomas, even if I don’t say it enough.”

 Thomas laughs. “Admitting your love for a Number, your grace? How unbecoming.” 

 “You’re so immature, Tom.” Thomas puffs out his cheeks and Chris glances back over his shoulder. “What a joke, huh? This title and this place. Expecting me to show up to these ridiculous events as a loyal member of his nobility as if he hasn’t taken my family from me and had me all but exiled.”

 “He’ll pay. They all will. And we’ll find Michael. There’s no way we won’t.” 

 Chris sighs, nods and turns once more to rest his forehead gently against Thomas’. Everything will work out. They have to believe that or they’d never be able to face the world ad carry on doing what must be done to save their land. Chris smooths down Thomas’ hair, to something more reminiscent of how he’d worn it before he was sent to the Archive. 

 “I’m so glad you’re alive,” Chris whispers, cupping his cheeks. “That hellish time when I thought you were dead, without Michael, I felt so helpless I didn’t know how to go on.” 

 “I’m a Number, I didn’t know how to show myself to you again.” His hands fall over Chris’, squeezing tightly to try and steady himself. “I couldn’t find Michael. All the stuff they said. Everything that happened. If you’d have seen me like everyone else-”

 “You’re my brother! I would never think of you as anything else.” He pulls Thomas in close, wrapping him up in his arms and Thomas sighs, leaning into his hold. Chris' hand brushing his hair is so soothing and comforting. The promise that things really might be alright one day. “I don’t care even if you really are everything they say. I wouldn’t care if you really were some violent, criminal monster. I wouldn’t care if you were a murderer. You’re my brother. Looking after you and finding Michael, that’s what matters most.”

 Thomas nods, burying his head in Chris’ shoulder. Finding Michael, the three of them being family again, that’s what matters most. Their revenge comes second, but they work as they search for their missing brother. Perhaps it’ll be easier to find Michael once they’ve removed the Heartland monarchy anyway. 

 

 “I wish you could stay with me more,” Chris whispers.

 “You know if I went missing, this is the first place the Paladins would be sent to look,” Thomas replies. “I’d be killed for sure this time. Besides, I have to keep an eye on Ryouga, don’t I?”

 “You do,” he sighs, pulling back a little. He smiles and kisses Thomas’ forehead. “Our precious little Ryouga, we’ve done so much to put him in place so far, we can’t let him slip out of our grasp now.” 

 Thomas nods. Ryouga is their precious key. It was Thomas himself who’d come out to the mainland to secure him for the Archive before the Paladins did. To ensure Kaito and Heartland empire didn’t get their hands on him. They couldn’t lose him now. 

 “I’ll protect him,” Thomas promises. “I know my job.”

 “Good.” Chris smiles a little and pushes Thomas to the bed. He lies at Thomas side and throws the covers around them. “Stay the night. I miss having you around.” 

 “You’re going to ruin all my hard work on your hair.” 

 “Stay anyway.”


End file.
